Good Example Of Essay On Moving Through Educational Backlog

Education has been one of the most important stages of every person’s life for hundreds and thousands years. Today we live in a rapidly changing world that challenges every country with constant innovation, and education becomes of a crucial importance. For centuries education was available for a limited number of people who strived to cross social borders and move through the “glass ceilings” to get enrolled to schools and universities and gain knowledge. Nowadays, education became affordable for almost all people in the world; however, its value is constantly decreasing. People say about “doomed” lifecycles of education where students lack of motivation, which makes it hard for the educational sphere to attract motivated and eager teachers. Although I do agree with the existence of such problem, I also think that it only expresses a top of a glacier. The main problem lies within the whole educational system’s drawbacks and negative images of education cultivated by the private sphere.
Long ago, in times of Plato and Aristotle, being a teacher meant to be a spiritual leader for the youth, inspire young generations, evoke critical thinking among students. Teachers were not burdened with routine paperwork and delivered only information that found necessary. Today teachers are put in quite rigid boundaries of educational system that constantly asks them to match certain standards of teaching quality, disregarding the actual passion and attitude of the teacher. To find the best suitable solution to our problem, one must consider the fact that teachers do have their own troubles as well. Parents play an important role in mediating relationships between teacher and students, however, rarely do parents get involved into the process. Stephanie Dolgoff highlighted the importance of parents’ role in establishing a constructive dialogue between children and teachers (Dolgoff). She claims that depending on the situation parents must take either teacher’s, or child’s side and be a diplomat in such relationships. As for the teacher’s payment, there is no doubt that a well-paid teacher will be a happier teacher, however, this does not mean that such teacher will motivate students and make their lectures interesting rather than a waste of time for both. Many schools have passionate teachers who can turn even the dullest course into an interesting subject for children but their number is so limited that it is hard to ensure that every school has this kind of teacher. As it was said before, mass education brings many challenges forward, and the lack of inspiring teachers is only one of such system’s outcomes. As for the claim that without serious students there will be no good teachers, I am strongly convinced that a good teacher does not seek for a 100%-serious audience at school. All children are so much different, and it is though a hard work and passion motivation and serious students can be attained.
The shortage of passionate teacher brings us to the following claim – we cannot generate hundreds of thousands qualified teachers but we can change the system. We must find a common ground where students and teachers will be interested in what they are doing. Such change in the approach requires reviewing the whole education system and values it cultivates. The main reason why students go to school is not only to match their parents’ social expectations, but also to learn something worthy that will enable them to choose their future career and grow professionally. It is not a secret that Silicon Valley cultivated a totally new type of aspirations and dreams – to become an entrepreneur. Under this influence, American schools lose their authority and influence on children and their attitude to education. According to New Poll, “54% of the US millennials (people from 18 to 34 year old) either want to start their own business, or already have one” (Kauffman Foundation). This figure is even higher among Latin American and African-American people – 64% and 63% respectively. The life stories of Bill Gates and Steven Jobs who dropped education for the sake of their own business in addition to popular TV shows like “Silicon Valley” only enhance such vision of education as useless. What if the educational system embraces this entrepreneurial spirit and helps its students with their aspirations to learn really important things that may help them in the future? What if teachers change their vision of traditional educational system and use their knowledge of subject to show students countless opportunities to start their own business? In my opinion, such approach may not only motivate students to learn eagerly, but also motivate teachers to learn more from their students.

CONCLUSION

Some problems with students’ motivation existed for a long time, however, now it is time to change the approach to education as it is only a “student – teacher interaction”. Parents must play an important role in mediating the relationships between teachers and students. In addition, educational system must react to those challenges imposed by the private sector and cultivate new values of interaction between student and teacher where both parties not only learn from one another, but also see for opportunities such knowledge provides. Such approach does not mean that classic education will be doomed, it only shows the necessity of changes in the educational sphere and a great pool of opportunities they can provide to students, teachers, and their parents.

Works Cited

Dolgoff, Stephanie. "5 Smart Ways to Handle Teacher Troubles." Parenting. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2015.
Eberly Center. "Students Lack Interest or Motivation - Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation - Carnegie Mellon University." Carnegie Mellon University | CMU. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2015.
Kauffman Foundation. "An Entrepreneurial Generation of 18- to 34-Year-Olds Wants to Start Companies When Economy Rebounds." Entrepreneurship & Education at the Kauffman Foundation. N.p., 11 Oct. 2011. Web. 5 Jan. 2015.